Wing Airmen support Atlas V rocket launch

  • Published
  • By 920th RescueWing Public Affairs
CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla. --  The U.S. Air Force successfully launched the third Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite onboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V vehicle here Sept. 18 from launch pad 41 at 4:10 a.m., as Airmen and HH-60G Pave Hawks from the 920th Rescue Wing safeguarded the hazard zone.

Hours before this morning's launch, two rescue helicopters took off from Patrick AFB in Cocoa Beach on its mission in support of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The 920th patrols the Eastern Range, the 70-mile long by 10-mile wide swath of ocean extending east from the Cape that must be cleared of all air & marine traffic prior to every launch
to ensure boaters are a safe distance from potentially falling rocket debris.

The rocket flew in the 531 vehicle configuration with a five-meter fairing, three solid rocket boosters and a single-engine Centaur upper stage.

AEHF is a joint service satellite communications system that will provide survivable, global, secure, protected, and jam-resistant communications for high-priority military ground, sea and air assets. The AEHF system is the follow-on to the Milstar system, augmenting, improving and expanding the Department of Defense's Military Satellite Communications architecture.

The 920th RQW performs combat search and rescue as its primary mission, which includes rescuing downed pilots. Additionally the 920th RQW is responsible for civil search and rescue, humanitarian relief and support of rocket launches. To date, the unit has saved more than 3,000 lives, both in peacetime and combat.

To date Air Force rescue forces from around the globe have saved more than 12,200 U.S., allied and host nation forces in conflicts worldwide since Sept. 11, 2001, and have rescued more than 5,000 people during catastrophic natural disasters and other responses.

Information from a 45th Space Wing